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Critical Storytelling from behind Invisible Bars
Undergraduates and Inmates Write Their Way Out
Series: - Critical Storytelling, Volume: 4
Critical stories are narratives that recount the writerâs experiences, situating those experiences in broader cultural contexts. In this volume of Critical Storytelling, marginalized, excluded, and oppressed peoples share insights from their liminality to help readers learn from their perspectives on living from behind invisible bars. Female inmates at Decaturâs Correctional Center and the undergraduate Millikin University students who worked with them come together to give voice to their specific histories of living from behind invisibile bars and pose important questions to the reader about inciting change for the future. Specifically, the voices in this volume seek to expose, analyze, and challenge deeply-entrenched narratives and characterizations of incarcerated women, whose histories are often marked by sexual abuse, domestic violence, poverty, PTSD, a lack of education, housing insecurity, mental illness, and substance addiction. These silenced female inmate voices need to be heard and contextualized within the larger metanarrative of prison literature. Through telling critical stories, these writers attempt to: sustain recovery from trauma, make positive changes and informed decisions, create a real sense of empowerment, strengthen their capacity to exercise personal agency, and inspire audiences to create change far outside the reaches of physical and metaphorical bars.
Contributors are: Anonymous, Soren Belle, Megan Batty, Dwight G. Brown, Jr., Sandra Brown, Kathryn Coffey, Kelly Cunningham, Paiten Hamilton, Kathlyn J. Housh, Rebekah Icenesse, Kala Keller, Jelisa Lovette, Bric Martin, Amanda Minetti, Laura Nearing, Angie Oaks, Claire Prendergast, Cara Quiett, J. M. Spence, Noah Villarreal and Alisha Walker.
Contributors are: Anonymous, Soren Belle, Megan Batty, Dwight G. Brown, Jr., Sandra Brown, Kathryn Coffey, Kelly Cunningham, Paiten Hamilton, Kathlyn J. Housh, Rebekah Icenesse, Kala Keller, Jelisa Lovette, Bric Martin, Amanda Minetti, Laura Nearing, Angie Oaks, Claire Prendergast, Cara Quiett, J. M. Spence, Noah Villarreal and Alisha Walker.
Carmella J. Braniger, Ph.D. (2003), Oklahoma State University, is Associate Professor of English at Millikin University. She has published poems and critical stories, including a story in Critical Storytelling in Uncritical Times (Sense, 2017), for which she served as editor.
Kathryn Coffey is an undergraduate at Millikin University. She has had articles published on the Decaturian and BURST. She also has work published in Collage (Fall 2019).
Rebekah Icenesse is an English Writing undergraduate at Millikin University. She has had articles published in BURST, and the Decaturian, where she serves as an editor.
Alex V. Miller is a Professor at Millikin University where he teaches all levels of acting and stage combat, serves as Coordinator of Performance, Mainstage Director, Resident Fight Director, and is founder of and Executive Director for Shakespeare Corrected. Though his professional performance career has taken him from coast to coast, he currently lives on a small farm in Hammond, IL with his wife and two children.
Kathryn Coffey is an undergraduate at Millikin University. She has had articles published on the Decaturian and BURST. She also has work published in Collage (Fall 2019).
Rebekah Icenesse is an English Writing undergraduate at Millikin University. She has had articles published in BURST, and the Decaturian, where she serves as an editor.
Alex V. Miller is a Professor at Millikin University where he teaches all levels of acting and stage combat, serves as Coordinator of Performance, Mainstage Director, Resident Fight Director, and is founder of and Executive Director for Shakespeare Corrected. Though his professional performance career has taken him from coast to coast, he currently lives on a small farm in Hammond, IL with his wife and two children.
âCritical Storytelling from behind Invisible Bars is a valuable read, giving female inmates a voice and reminding us of the human being behind a prisonerâs number or statistic and demonstrating how everybody is confronted with visible or invisible bars.â Lisa Krolak, UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, in Learning Environments Research | Vol. 67 (2021), pp. 559â560.
Preface
Notes on Contributors
Prologue
âAlex V. Miller
1 A Prisonerâs Melody
âSandra Brown, Jelissa Lovette and Alisha Walker
2 Barcode
âSandra Brown
3 Caged
âJelissa Lovette
4 The Forbidden & the Prohibited
âSoren Belle
5 Truth or Dare
âSandra Brown
6 The People I Met When the Sky Went Dark
âBric Martin
7 The Great Wall of Insanity
âJ. M. Spence
8 State of Mind
âJelissa Lovette
9 The Call
âSandra Brown
10 Pivotal Times
âAngie Oakes
11 A Daughterâs Sorrow
âSandra Brown
12 Talking It out from the Inside
âCara Quiett
13 Mother-Less Child
âJelissa Lovette
14 Not Waving, Not Drowning
âSandra Brown
15 Isaac
âClaire Prendergast
16 Prison
âAngie Oaks
17 Love Find Me
âJelissa Lovette
18 Little Girl Lost
âAngie Oakes
19 Everlasting Kiss
âJelissa Lovette
20 Backburner Bitch
âAnonymous
21 Love Alive
âKala Keller
22 My Dragonfly
âLaura Neering
23 Puzzle Pieces in My Eyes
âRebekah M. Icenesse
24 Piece of Me
âJelissa Lovette
25 Nothing New under the Sun
âSandra Brown
26 Living a Life with Invisible Bars
âKathlyn J. Housh
27 Where Would I Be
âJelissa Lovette
28 My Odyssey
âSandra Brown
29 What Makes Straight so Great?
âDwight G. Brown, Jr.
30 Natureâs Sanctuary
âAngie Oakes
31 Natureâs Pride and Promise
âCara Quiett
32 Finding Stability in Motion
âMegan Batty
33 Queen of Soul
âJelisa Lovette
34 Melodies & Recipes
âCara Quiett
35 Unanswered Questions
âPaiten Hamilton
36 Gregoryâs Gift
âSandra Brown
37 Sentimental Syrup
âCara Quiett
38 Perfection: A History of Me & My Multi-Colored Elephants
âKathryn A. Coffey
39 Final Thoughts
âSandra Brown
40 Stopping the Cycle: My Journey with Generational Body Image
âKelly Cunningham
41 My Four Opportunities to Grow Up
âNoah Villarreal
42 My Last Bow
âAmanda Minetti
43 The Eulogy
âSandra Brown
44 Yoga Me Free
âCara Quiett
45 Metamorphosis
âSandra Brown
Epilogue
âCarmella J. Braniger, Rebekah M. Icenesse, Kathryn A. Coffey and Alex V. Miller
Notes on Contributors
Prologue
âAlex V. Miller
1 A Prisonerâs Melody
âSandra Brown, Jelissa Lovette and Alisha Walker
2 Barcode
âSandra Brown
3 Caged
âJelissa Lovette
4 The Forbidden & the Prohibited
âSoren Belle
5 Truth or Dare
âSandra Brown
6 The People I Met When the Sky Went Dark
âBric Martin
7 The Great Wall of Insanity
âJ. M. Spence
8 State of Mind
âJelissa Lovette
9 The Call
âSandra Brown
10 Pivotal Times
âAngie Oakes
11 A Daughterâs Sorrow
âSandra Brown
12 Talking It out from the Inside
âCara Quiett
13 Mother-Less Child
âJelissa Lovette
14 Not Waving, Not Drowning
âSandra Brown
15 Isaac
âClaire Prendergast
16 Prison
âAngie Oaks
17 Love Find Me
âJelissa Lovette
18 Little Girl Lost
âAngie Oakes
19 Everlasting Kiss
âJelissa Lovette
20 Backburner Bitch
âAnonymous
21 Love Alive
âKala Keller
22 My Dragonfly
âLaura Neering
23 Puzzle Pieces in My Eyes
âRebekah M. Icenesse
24 Piece of Me
âJelissa Lovette
25 Nothing New under the Sun
âSandra Brown
26 Living a Life with Invisible Bars
âKathlyn J. Housh
27 Where Would I Be
âJelissa Lovette
28 My Odyssey
âSandra Brown
29 What Makes Straight so Great?
âDwight G. Brown, Jr.
30 Natureâs Sanctuary
âAngie Oakes
31 Natureâs Pride and Promise
âCara Quiett
32 Finding Stability in Motion
âMegan Batty
33 Queen of Soul
âJelisa Lovette
34 Melodies & Recipes
âCara Quiett
35 Unanswered Questions
âPaiten Hamilton
36 Gregoryâs Gift
âSandra Brown
37 Sentimental Syrup
âCara Quiett
38 Perfection: A History of Me & My Multi-Colored Elephants
âKathryn A. Coffey
39 Final Thoughts
âSandra Brown
40 Stopping the Cycle: My Journey with Generational Body Image
âKelly Cunningham
41 My Four Opportunities to Grow Up
âNoah Villarreal
42 My Last Bow
âAmanda Minetti
43 The Eulogy
âSandra Brown
44 Yoga Me Free
âCara Quiett
45 Metamorphosis
âSandra Brown
Epilogue
âCarmella J. Braniger, Rebekah M. Icenesse, Kathryn A. Coffey and Alex V. Miller
All interested in intersections among disciplines, especially the humanities and social sciences, particularly English, Communication, and social justice program students; anyone teaching communication, composition, or creative and/or critical storytelling courses.